Category: honda

The YouTube UK leaderboard for 2015 was just published. They said “Check out the top 10 most viewed ads that have been enjoyed by millions and millions of people around the world thanks to the truly brilliant marketing minds of our age. From the heartwarming to the daring, these are the ads that moved viewers in 2015.” We are the only UK agency with two ads in YouTube’s 2015 top five: Three Make It Right at #3 and Honda Ignition at #4. Nice.

As a brand, Honda continually takes on some pretty daring engineering projects. From Formula 1 through to aviation and humanoid robotics, Honda’s challenging spirit runs through everything it does, and we think there’s no other car company quite like it.

This is set to be a big year for Honda. During 2015, every model within Honda’s automobile line-up is new or refreshed, including the new HR-V and the hotly anticipated Civic Type R. This year has also seen the Honda Jet make its first commercial flight and Honda’s return to Formula 1.

We wanted to create an out-of-this-world brand campaign that would reflect this daring ambition, capturing Honda’s philosophy with the inspiring campaign line: “Dare to do the things others only dream of.”

Inspired by Honda’s daring spirit, the film pays homage to one of the boldest expressions of human curiosity and engineering endeavour; space flight.

Opening on Honda’s humanoid robot, ASIMO, the camera reveals a line-up of Honda products arranged on an impressive runway. The sky and sun are reflected in the road surface and the water below. Viewed from above, the formation mimics the familiar shape of a space shuttle or rocket.

From the NSX’s driver captured with a picture of an original 1991 NSX held in his hand to space travel-inspired iconography and cinematic details, the film aims to capture viewers’ imaginations. Eagle eyed viewers will even spot a very special cameo from McLaren-Honda driver Jenson Button and recognise the voice of the late, great Ayrton Senna.

Ignition was shot on location on the Podilsko-Voskresenskyi bridge, Kiev, Ukraine by Aoife McArdle through Somesuch. Local production was supplied by Radioaktive. The film’s epic cinematic look was enhanced through SFX and post production by The Mill, and sound design was crafted by Factory. The film’s score was designed by science fiction film composer Walter Mair through SIREN, and features segments from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Mozart’s Queen of the Night Aria; 2 tracks that feature on the Golden Record that Voyager took into outer space in 1977. Media was handled by Starcom MediaVest Group.

The film is additionally supported online through Honda’s websites, where deeper stories on the ambition and challenges of the fleet can be found.

If daring to do things others only dream of looks this good, we’re definitely on board.

Each year, Fast Company magazine puts together its list of 100 Most Creative People in Business. This year, we were absolutely delighted to hear that W+K creative director and all-round exemplary Aussie bloke Scott Dungate made the cut, for "steering advertising in a new interactive direction" with our Honda 'The Other Side' campaign. Not only that, but he seems to be the only creative individual from an ad agency on the list.

Scott was interviewed by Fast Co about what inspires him, his morning routine and what he does to shake himself out of a creative rut. Check it out here, and then dive in to the full list on Fast Company here.

Spring is in the air, and Honda is welcoming a whole new Civic family into dealerships across Europe. The new range is a perfect example of Honda's philosophy that the driving experience is the most important factor.

The new campaign we created to support the new range, which includes the adventurous Tourer, the stylish Sport and the powerful Civic Type R, launches today with a 60" TV spot.

We were inspired by interviews with Honda’s project leader about the philosophy behind the new Civic. He captured Honda’s dedication to its customers’ enjoyment by saying, “Customers should not think this is a good car, but rather feel, 'I can enjoy this car'.”

With director Johnny Hardstaff at the helm, we brought Honda’s philosophy to life in a hyper-realistic world, suspending the cars and their surroundings in a state of near-arrested motion and setting the stage for Honda engineers to put their expertise to work. Revolving around three thrilling driving experiences, the engineers carefully manipulate the environment to create a maximum feeling of joy. From positioning individual beads of water with precision behind the car, to gently adjusting a bird’s flight, no detail of the perfect moment is overlooked.

The launch film is accompanied by three 20” spots, each concentrating on one of three of the new Civic models, and an accompanying print campaign.

Some of us are a little tired today, following last night's British Arrows ceremony, at which Honda The Other Side, Lurpak Cook's Range and Three Sing It Kitty were honoured with some lovely arrow-shaped metal.

Our host was the one and only David Mitchell.

The Other Side picked up Commercial of the Year, as well as two golds for Interactive Web-Based Commercial and Best over 90" Web-Based Film, Cook's Range picked up triple gold for Best 30"-60" TV, Best 60"-90" Cinema and Dairy, and Three Sing It Kitty went home with a bronze for Telecommunications.

Our very own Andrew Bevan won (one half of) Best Creative Team and a silver for Charity for his Violence is Violence campaign for Mankind.

And W+K Portland nabbed gold for Sportswear and silver for Best Over 90" Commercial using paid-for media for Nike The Last Game.

And we managed to bring back the pointy bits of metal back to the agency in one piece this morning.

Peruse the full list of winners here. Congratulations to all involved!

Last night's Creative Circle Ball had a nice metallic sheen to it, as two of our campaigns each took home a few awards each.

Honda The Other Side picked up three golds (for 'best use of new technology', 'best online film' and 'best interactive'), as well as the 'gold of golds' for top ad of 2014.

Lurpak Cook's Range won gold for 'direction' and 'editing' (big congratulations to Dougal Wilson at Blink and Joe Guest at Final Cut) and silver for best TV film. Not a bad haul, if we do say so ourselves.

Last week Scott and Alex headed to the Geneva Motor Show to check out the latest and greatest cars the world has to offer.

Drooling over the forthcoming Honda NSX was obviously top of the priority list. Scott tried to play it cool whilst struggling to work out how to get in.

Scott pulled it back and look much cooler than Alex posing next to the 2015 Honda McLaren.

The boys journeyed to the past to check out Senna’s F1 car.

And to the future, salivating at the emission-free, Hydrogen fuel cell FCV concept.

As well the cars, many manufacturers have other bits and pieces to keep the petrolheads entertained. This picture was taken around the time Scott unnerved our Honda client Martin whilst heading full-pelt into a computer-generated wall. Fortunately the real-world physics only went as far as a shake and a wobble.

All in all a great day – the team learned loads and left full of excitement about what’s to come for Honda. We’d like to give a huge shout out to Martin and Jemma at Honda for inviting us along and looking after us on the day.

Following the recent launch of Keep Up, You Can Now traces our longstanding relationship with Honda from both a client and an agency perspective, speaking with Martin Moll, Head of European Marketing at Honda and W+K ECD Tony Davidson to discover what keeps our working relationship ticking – or roaring.